Passionate Exchange

Chapter Six

It's her own fault, what does that mean? Archer ends the call, pocketing his phone and turns in my direction. My heart stops.

I let out a slight gasp as I duck behind the wall faster than I ever thought possible, pulling my legs into my chest. I slap my hand against my mouth and squeeze my eyes shut to lower my chances of being caught. If I can't see him, he can't see me.

To my surprise, his footsteps grow distant as he walks past me without hesitation. I peel one of my eyes open. When I hear a door shutting, I rest my head against the wall in relief.

He would have definitely thought I was spying on him if he caught me listening to his phone call. I wasn't spying, I was just curious. The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' pops into my head but I choose to ignore it.

"What took you so long?" Penny asks when I enter her room. I throw the opened bag of hot Cheetos at her and, luckily, she catches them before they spill all over her homework.

"You have a lot of snacks," I use as my excuse. "It took me a while to decide what I wanted."

Her eyebrows furrow causing me to grow anxious. Why's she looking at me like that?

"And you decided you didn't want anything?" She eyes me suspiciously.

I look down to see that I forgot to grab something for myself. I got so distracted with Archer's phone call that I didn't get what I went downstairs for.

"Um," my eyes dart around the room. "Yep." I shrug, looking more guilty than ever.

My stomach growls lowly. Thankfully, she doesn't seem to notice as she pops a hot Cheeto into her mouth, choosing to believe me. I'll just have to steal some of them later.

We spend the rest of the night finishing our homework. It takes me longer than usual because my mind keeps going elsewhere.

I can't help but wonder what Archer meant when he said she knew what she was getting into. It sounds like he uses girls for his own amusement only to leave them high and dry when he gets bored. A part of me knows that my suspicions are correct but another part of me wants to be wrong. It scares me because I have no idea why I want to be wrong.

*

"Miss Roberts." My eyes shoot open when I hear these words. I lift my head to see my teacher's eyes piercing holes into my head. "What did I just ask you?" She questions.

I sit up, wiping the drool from my cheek. My face heats up in embarrassment once I realise why everyone is staring at me. I fell asleep in the middle of class.

I look around the room to try and work out what class I'm in, but my mind is blank. "Who wrote Romeo and Juliet?" I guess, my words trailing off at the end. I cringe inwardly at myself.

"You're in Economics, not English. Please pay more attention in my class." A few people giggle around me. I shrink into my seat. It's barely ten in the morning and I've already humiliated myself.

Can this day get any worse?

"Madison,"

I gulp and rub my palms on my jeans. I already know what's coming. "Yeah," I hum trying to appear as casual as possible.

"I'll see you after school for detention." She grins evilly before returning to the front of the class. Forget what I just said, this day just officially got worse.

The school day finishes after what seems like forever. Penny and Brody thought me falling asleep in the middle of class was the funniest thing in the world. They were laughing for at least fifteen minutes straight.